Atheists Severely Mistrusted by Society.

New Atheist Sam Harris notes that when it comes to atheism “it is right next to child molester as a designation.”

University researchers Professor Penny Edgell and associate Professor Doug Hartmann sampled over 2000 people via telephone. They found that Americans rate atheists below Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians and other minority groups in “sharing their vision of American society.” Atheists are also the minority group most Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry. According to Penny Edgell: “Atheists, who account for about 3 percent of the U.S. population, offer a glaring exception to the rule of increasing social tolerance over the last 30 years,” and that “It seems most Americans believe that diversity is fine, as long as every one shares a common ‘core’ of values that make them trustworthy—and in America, that ‘core’ has historically been religious.”

The study also suggested that many respondents associated atheism various moral indiscretions including things like criminal behaviour to rampant materialism and cultural elitism: “Our findings seem to rest on a view of atheists as self-interested individuals who are not concerned with the common good.” New Atheist Sam Harris would agree having said that “It’s right next to child molester as a designation.”

James Bishop

Hi. I am James. I live in South Africa where I am currently studying theology & philosophy, and majoring in psychology (graduate 2018). I graduated in marketing and brand communications majoring in multimedia design (2014). I also obtained TESOL in 2017. Welcome to my blog!